Hisanori Takahashi

The Pirates made a surprising move today, sending Bryan Morris to Triple A. The writing was written on the wall for Bryan Morris when he was given a rare fourth option. When I wrote my Roster Watch it was before he was given the option. I still think this move hurts the team. It hurt…

Let’s get one thing straight. Travis Snider‘s nickname is Lunchbox. There is absolutely no way that a guy with the nickname “Lunchbox” can be held off this team. That is easily the best nickname on the club. The only thing better than his nickname is his twitter handle – @LunchboxHero45. If you’re interested in things…

So for this episode of Roster Watch we’re just going to go over a few relievers that were with the organization last year but no longer are. Brad Lincoln is first up. Obviously he won’t be back with the Pirates this year as they traded him to the Toronto Blue Jays. Lincoln was a major…

In another cost cutting move the Pirates traded reliever Chris Resop to the Oakland Athletics for 24 year old, A-ball reliever Zach Thornton. Thornton was drafted out of college by the A’s and has spent three years in the minors, making it to AA last year for the first time where he pitched 3.0 innings…

At least the Pirates weren’t shut out, right? Tonight’s 6-2 loss put them 3 games below .500 once again. If Ike Davis didn’t exist, the Pirates would have won. But he does, and they didn’t. Kyle McPherson struggled with his command a bit in his second major league start. He threw 83 pitches, just 46…

Astros starter Edgar Gonzalez hadn’t pitched in a major league game since 2009. Despite pitching just 5.1 innings today, he looked like an ace against the Pirates. Jeff Locke struggled a bit in his first start of the year, and the Pirates’ offense wasn’t any help. The Astros started the game with 3 straight hits…

Jeff Karstens left his last start on Saturday with a strained groin. He didn’t think it’d be bad enough to keep from making his next start. He made the start… and lasted one-third of an inning. He gave up 4 runs on 5 hits before leaving early with discomfort in his right hip flexor (basically…

The Pirates needed a win tonight. They needed James McDonald to step up, and they needed the offense to step up. Both sides took that seriously. JMac pitched 7 shutout innings, and the Pirates’ 9 runs were highlighted by Pedro Alvarez’s 2 homeruns. JMac simply shut down the Cardinals lineup tonight. He gave up just…